Its creator, Jacques, started from the observation that most applications help to stop smoking permanently, but few offer to reduce at your own pace.
In 10 years, 4 million French people who smoked daily have stopped. What if, tomorrow, it was you? All smokers say it, quitting smoking is very difficult. For good reason, cigarette addiction is both physical, psychological and behavioral. Nicotine acts like a drug by stimulating dopamine – the pleasure hormone – which creates real cravings when you stop. Smoking also becomes a routine, a reflex in the face of stress or fatigue, and a social gesture associated with shared breaks. Weaning means losing a physical, psychological and relational reference point at the same time. But it’s not impossible.
On the occasion of No Tobacco Month 2025, an initiative launched every November 1 to stop smoking for 30 days, we have chosen to highlight an application that can help smokers, not to aim to immediately stop smoking but, already, to smoke less. Behind this application is Jacques, web developer and smoker: “Passionate about coding, it was while carrying out technological monitoring that the idea of creating this application came to me. Being a smoker myself, I started from the observation that most applications helped to quit smoking permanently, but few offered to reduce at your own pace.”
This application, born in Rennes, is called Smokut. It is designed to help smokers regain control, “without pressure or guilt”. No moralizing speech, but an easy-to-use, free and motivating tool to better understand your consumption and progress at your own pace. Today, Smokut has around 1,200 users, two-thirds of whom are women. Smokut works like a custom dashboard. The user enters the number of cigarettes they smoke, and the application generates detailed statistics: daily average, savings, trends and stopping periods.
“The approach is similar to what applications like Garmin or Strava can offer for sport, but applied to monitoring smoking. A new functionality will soon make it possible to create a tailor-made cessation program” shares its creator. Every effort is rewarded: badges, trophies, levels to reach, ranking from bronze to diamond.
Smokut is also a community. Thanks to its integrated social network, smokers can challenge themselves, participate in collective challenges such as No Tobacco Month, encourage each other and celebrate their victories together. And when motivation flags, the savings displayed on the screen remind us why we started. And don’t forget: to mark No Tobacco Month, smoking cessation kits are available free of charge in pharmacies and to order on the operation website. The number 39 89 can be dialed for free and personalized support from tobacco specialists.
